“Wait back up a second, she was upset over me seeing someone?” I ask, wondering how I didn’t know that.

“Maybe not upset necessarily but she was certainly bothered, when you were dating that girl maybe two years ago? The news reporter?”

I nod, remembering the busty brunette from Los Angeles that I met at a bar one night when I was hammered out of my mind. “Oh right, but that wasn’t serious?”

“Well, Gabrielle surely did not take it well.” I wonder what he’s thinking about that. Surely he has some opinion over his daughter having such a visceral reaction to her brother dating someone.

I take a long sip of my beer, hoping that the liquid courage will kick in like now. “What do you think about that?”

“Think about what?”

“Gabrielle’s…disdain for me seeing someone?”

“I think she’s always kind of struggled with her feelings for you. At first, we worried that maybe your connection wasn’t the healthiest. It was odd, watching her develop these potentially unhealthy feelings for you. She was very attached to you early on and it just seemed to get more aggressive especially after what happened in Mississippi. But we figured you were who she needed to feel better. To feel like herself again. All that being said, she’s older now and it probably won’t bother her as much anymore—”

“Dad.” I cut him off from going any further. I have this ring in my pocket, and I’m going to fucking lose it if I don’t tell someone. Gabrielle is the first person I tell anything. The person I confide in the most, and the biggest secret I’ve had to keep I can’t even share with her yet. “It’s Gabrielle.”

He stares at me confused. “What’s Gabrielle?”

“The woman I’m seeing.” I pull the box out of my pocket and open it revealing a three carat round diamond ring. “We’ve been seeing each other for months. Coming up on a year actually in December.”

His eyes widen in shock and what I believe to be horror as his eyes flit from me to the ring box sitting between us. “You’re fucking with me.”

I shake my head. “No.”

“ARE YOU INSANE?” He bellows as he gets up from his chair so aggressively it falls over and bangs against the floor. “Your sister? Your nineteen year old sister?” he shouts before slamming his palm down on the table. “Before I ring your fucking neck, how did this happen?” My father rarely shouts and I don’t think he’s yelled at me since I was a teenager.

“I know how it looks, but you seemed to understand the feelings she had—”